Skip to main content
Collections Menu
(American, 1851–1938)

Madelaine

c. 1890
Oil on canvas
Image: 22 5/16 x 19 3/16 in. (56.7 x 48.7 cm)
Frame: 30 5/8 x 27 3/8 in. (77.8 x 69.7 cm)
Credit LineTerra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection
Object number1999.45
SignedLower left: T.W. Dewing
Interpretation
Apparently unaware of the viewer, Madelaine gazes into the remote distance off the right edge of the composition as if lost in thought, but the shadows cast over her composed features make her inner self inaccessible to the viewer. Her remoteness and ethereality are complemented by Dewing's delicate technique, which lends his oil paint the shimmering delicacy of pastel, a medium in which he excelled. The beautiful young woman is turned in profile to the right and seated in a chair. Her fingers clasp the right arm in a refined gesture, while the chair's other arm appears strangely elongated to accommodate her extended left forearm. A slight shadow indicates that her seat is placed close to the green wall that forms the simple backdrop to the subject and sets off the delicate tints of her pale complexion, dark hair, and form-fitting pink dress. The tones of the chair, the woman, and the backdrop subtly harmonize for a unifying effect.

Madelaine has been dated to the beginning of Dewing's intense involvement in the refined images of languorous, elegant young women in spare settings that would become his hallmark, and the artist later described it as one of his best such works. The model, about whom little is known, has been identified in several other paintings by the artist. Madelaine is the only one of these images to name the sitter in the title, but like Dewing's Portrait of a Lady Holding a Rose (TF 1999.46), also in the Terra Foundation's collection, this work is anything but a portrait in the conventional sense, for it avoids any deliberate expression of the subject's social persona and psychological individuality. Presented in a deliberate vacuum of sentiment, moral theme, or narrative, the woman is consciously posed, even manipulated, by the artist for purely decorative effect as she becomes one with the exquisite artwork in which she appears.

  At the turn of the twentieth century, numerous American and European artists were attracted to the subject of the solitary beautiful young woman posed with equally beautiful decorative objects or fashionable items of dress. Along with Madelaine, such works as Spring Flowers (Peonies) (TF 1999.32) by William Merritt Chase and The Mirror (TF 1999.22) by Dennis Miller Bunker (also in the Terra Foundation collection) demonstrate the portrayal of such women according to the revolutionary idea of "art for art's sake" espoused by influential American expatriate artist James McNeill Whistler, whose works and iconoclastic ideas began to influence American artists in the early 1880s.
ProvenanceThe artist
Edwin Shaw, Akron, Ohio
Akron Art Institute, Akron, Ohio, until 1965
Paul Magriel, New York
Kennedy Galleries, New York, New York
Estate of Ralph Esmerian, New York
Kennedy Galleries, New York, New York
Daniel J. Terra Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1980
Terra Foundation for the Arts Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1999
Exhibition History
The Edwin C. Shaw Collection of Paintings, Akron Art Institute, Akron, Ohio, October 11–November 23, 1955. [exh. cat.]

Galaxy of Ladies/American Paintings from the Paul Magriel Collection, Finch College Museum of Art, New York, March 14, 1966–?. [exh. cat.]

Two Hundred Years of American Portraits: A Selection of Portraits from the Early 18th to the Early 20th Century, Kennedy Galleries, New York, New York, May 6–29, 1976.

American Impressionism, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington (organizer). Venues: Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, January 3–March 2, 1980; The Frederick S. Wight Art Gallery, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, March 9–May 4, 1980; Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, May 16–June 22, 1980; The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts, July 1–August 31, 1980. [exh. cat.]

Solitude: Inner Visions in American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, September 25–December 30, 1982. [exh. cat.]

Woman, Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, February 21–April 22, 1984. [exh. cat.]

Masterworks from Midwest Museums (Masterworks of American Art), 10th Anniversary Exhibition, Mitchell Museum, Mount Vernon, Illinois, September 29–November 25, 1984. [exh. cat.]

The Edwin C. Shaw Collection of American Impressionist and Tonalist Painting, Akron Art Museum, Akron, Ohio (organizer). Venue: Akron Art Museum, Akron, Ohio, April 19–June 29, 1986. [exh. cat.]

A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 21–June 21, 1987. [exh. cat.]

Collection Cameo, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 1995.

Collection Cameo, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 1999.

(Re)Presenting Women, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, October 16, 2001–January 13, 2002.

Artistic Independence in 1898: The Ten American Painters, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, May 4–July 21, 2002.

Deux collections en regard: oeuvres de la Terra Foundation for the Arts et du Detroit Institute of Arts (Side by Side: Works from the Terra Foundation for the Arts and the Detroit Institute of Arts), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, March 2–June 1, 2003. [exh. cat.]

Copley to Cassatt: Masterworks from the Terra Collection, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut and Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut, September 5–December 7, 2003.

Visages de l'Amérique: de George Washington à Marilyn Monroe (Faces of America: From George Washington to Marilyn Monroe), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 2004. [exh. cat.]

Twarze Ameryki: Portrety z kolekcji Terra Foundation for American Art, 1770–1940 (Faces of America: Portraits from the collection of the Terra Foundation for American Art, 1770–1940), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France and Miedzynarodowe Centrum Kultury (International Cultural Center), Crakow, Poland (organizers). Venue: International Cultural Center, Crakow, Poland, February 15–May 7, 2006. [exh. cat.]

Portrait of a Lady : peintures et photographies américaines en France, 1870–1915 (Portrait of a Lady: American Paintings and Photographs in France, 1870–1915), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France and Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France (organizers). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France, April 1–July 14, 2008; Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France, September 25, 2008–January 5, 2009. [exh. cat.]
Published References
Cook, Clarence. "Casts and Tapestry in Room-Decoration." Monthly Illustrator 4 (June 1895): 327. Ill. p. 327.

The Edwin C. Shaw Collection of Paintings. (exh. cat., Akron Art Institute). Akron, Ohio: Akron Art Institute, 1955. Ill.

Galaxy of Ladies: American Paintings from the Paul Magriel Collection. (exh. cat., Finch College Museum of Art). New York: Finch College Museum of Art, 1966. Cat. no. 5.

"Two Hundred Years of American Portraits." The Kennedy Quarterly 9:4 (May 1970): 272–81. Text p. 281; ill. p. 272.

"The Turn of the Century." The Kennedy Quarterly 15:4 (September 1977): 99. Ill. no. 147, p. 99.

Gerdts, William H. American Impressionism. (exh. cat., Henry Art Gallery). Seattle, Washington: Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, 1980. Text p. 131 (checklist); ill. p. 77 (color).

Sokol, David M. Solitude: Inner Visions in American Art. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Evanston, Illinois: Terra Museum of American Art, 1982. Ill. p. 24 (color).

Masterworks from Midwest Museums. (exh. cat., Mitchell Museum). Mount Vernon, Illinois: Mitchell Museum, 1984. Ill. cover.

Nochlin, Linda. Woman. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Evanston, Illinois: Terra Museum of American Art, 1984. Fig. 23, p. 24 (color).

Carr, Carolyn Kinder et al. The Edwin C. Shaw Collection of American Impressionist and Tonalist Painting. (exh. cat., Akron Art Museum). Akron, Ohio: Akron Art Museum, 1986. Text pp. 54, 108 (checklist), 112; ill. p. 55 (black & white).

Lynes, Russell. "1902." Art News (November 1987): 154–55. Ill. p. 154 (color).

Atkinson, D. Scott et al. A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art. Edited by Terry A. Neff. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1987. Pl. T-74, p. 183 (color).

Gerdts, William H. et al. Lasting Impressions: American Painters in France, 1865–1915. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1992. Text pp. 39–40; fig. 28 (black & white).

Gerdts, William H. et al. Impressions de toujours: les peintres américains en France, 1865–1915. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1992. Text pp. 39–40; fig. 28 (black & white).

Madelaine, Thomas Wilmer Dewing. Collection Cameo sheet, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 1995. Ill. (black & white).

Hobbs, Susan A. The Art of Thomas Wilmer Dewing: Beauty Reconfigured. (exh. cat., The Brooklyn Museum). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996. Text p. 152.

Madelaine, Thomas Wilmer Dewing. Collection Cameo sheet, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 1999. Ill. (black & white).

Kennedy, Elizabeth and Sophie Lévy. Faces of America: Portraits of the Terra Foundation for the Arts Collection, 1770–1940. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2004. Text pp. 16, 31 (checklist); ill. cover (color), p. 52 (color).

Kennedy, Elizabeth and Sophie Lévy. Visages de l'Amérique: le portrait dans la collection de la Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1770–1940. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2004. Text pp. 16, 31 (checklist); ill. cover (color), p. 52 (color).

Lévy, Sophie, et al. Twarze Ameryki: Portrety z kolekcji Terra Foundation for American Art, 1770–1940/Faces of America: Portraits from the collection of the Terra Foundation for American Art, 1770–1940. (exh. cat. International Cultural Center). Cracow, Poland: International Cultural Center, 2006. Ill. p. 73 (color).

Lecomte, Vanessa, editor. Portrait of a Lady : peinture et photographies américains (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny and Musée des beaux-arts de Bordeaux). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2008. Text p. 93; ill. p. 40 (color).